That Damn Hat
by daydreamer4
Summary: One-shot piece. Luke and Lorelai get engaged.


_Author's Note: So I had a bad week and writing this story made me feel better. I hope it at least brings a smile to your faces too. It's my flight of fancy for the week. I know I still owe A Shift in the Stars an update and I promise I will get to it. I don't own Gilmore Girls. It belongs to ASP and the WB. Watch the Frog.  
_  
Luke threw his toolbox into the back of his pickup and jumped into the driver's seat. He started the engine and pulled out as the sun was just beginning to descend in the sky. He hadn't planned on working tonight. He had some other, very definite plans that were horribly derailed. Although Luke couldn't honestly say that he missed the dress pants, tie and jacket that he was wearing minutes earlier.  
  
He had been ready to go and the phone rang. Lorelai needed to cancel their plans for the evening. Not only did she need to cancel their plans, but she needed his help ASAP. He made a show of acting grumpy and put out, but he was honestly just happy to be able to spend time with her. It had been roughly a year since they started dating and roughly a year since the Dragonfly opened. Lately it seemed that business had picked up and Lorelai was constantly at the inn. So he was driving to inn to come to her rescue. He couldn't say he minded. Luke could never seem to deny Lorelai anything.  
  
Lorelai had been busy all week preparing for the first wedding to be held at the inn. Luke had been over earlier in the week to drop off the chuppah that stood in Lorelai's yard. Lorelai thought it was only right to use the chuppah for a wedding, since it was built for a wedding that never was and so Luke had lugged it from her yard to the Dragonfly.  
  
Luke pulled up to the inn and turned the corner into the back yard. It was there that he saw Lorelai struggling with a bolt of ribbon as the light spring breeze blew across the yard. Luke squinted to be sure it was Lorelai because her appearance was slightly altered. The closer he got, the more he realized that Lorelai was wearing one of his baseball caps, backwards, of course.  
  
"Hey," he said walking closer and dropping the toolbox at his feet.  
  
Lorelai turned and smiled a bright grin. She ran over to where Luke was standing and threw herself on top of the toolbox.  
  
"Bert!" she exclaimed. "I'm so glad to see you."  
  
"Well I guess I see where I rank in this relationship," Luke said wryly looking down at her.  
  
Lorelai turned her head and gave him a small grin. "I didn't get to your hello yet," she said standing up and wrapping her arms around his neck. She leaned in and gave Luke a generous kiss.  
  
"Hello," she said quietly when they parted.  
  
"Hi," Luke replied.  
  
Lorelai turned and took Luke's hand to lead him down by the chuppah.  
  
"So, what's this about?" Luke asked lightly flicking the rim of his hat on her head.  
  
"Oh, this?" Lorelai asked adjusting the hat. "I was having trouble with the lights, which is why you're here, but before I called you I was having a horrible time trying to fix them myself. So I thought, 'who is the most handy person I know?' And naturally my answer was you," she said gesturing to Luke.  
  
Luke suppressed a small smile at her explanation. "That still doesn't explain my hat," he ventured.  
  
"I was getting there," she replied. "So you're the most handy person I know and I thought maybe you're so good at fixing things because of your hats. And then I thought maybe there's some sort of magic in wearing it backward so I tried it."  
  
"How'd that work out for ya?" Luke asked.  
  
"Why do you think you're here?" Lorelai quickly replied. Luke smirked at her reasoning behind wearing his hat, but he had to admit, whatever her reasoning, she looked incredibly sexy. 'Who'd have thought a ratty old hat could be such a turn-on?' Luke thought to himself.  
  
"I'm hoping that the hat you have on has the magic because this one is fresh out my friend," she said snapping him out of his reverie.  
  
"Well there can only be one magic hat at a time," Luke replied. "If more than one hat had the magic then that might cause a rip in the space-time continuum," Luke told her knowledgeably.  
  
"Ahh, that's my little Trekkie," Lorelai cooed.  
  
Luke just shook his head. He had given up fighting her on the Star Trek references a long time ago.  
  
"So what seems to be the problem?" Luke asked opening the toolbox.  
  
"Well the lights," she said gesturing to the strands of Christmas lights on the chuppah, "they're not so much twinkling."  
  
"Did you check the strands before you wound them all around this thing?" Luke asked.  
  
"Yes, I checked the strands," Lorelai responded in a low-pitched mocking tone. "And I checked the lights, but there are like five billion lights and two million strands and I couldn't find the problem and the wedding is tomorrow and..." she was starting to panic.  
  
"It's okay," Luke reassured her. "I'll do the lights. You finish whatever you're doing with the ribbon."  
  
"You'll do the lights?" Lorelai chuckled. Luke instinctively knew what was coming next and he decided not to fight it.  
  
"Dirty," she finished.  
  
"I try," Luke replied as he inspected the lights.  
  
"I'm sorry I had to cancel tonight," Lorelai offered as she set to work with the ribbon again.  
  
"It's okay," Luke said digging a flashlight out of his toolbox.  
  
"No, it's not," Lorelai said. "I feel like all I've done lately is cancel plans with you. And you seemed like you were looking forward to whatever we were supposed to do."  
  
After a moment of silence Lorelai decided to ask, "What were we supposed to do tonight anyway? You said I had to dress up."  
  
"Oh," Luke said struggling with the lights, as well as to find an excuse that Lorelai might believe. "Well I was gonna take you dancing," Luke told her. Unable to come up with a suitable lie, he actually told her the truth, which of course sounded like a lie because it involved Luke and dancing.  
  
"Liar," she shot at him.  
  
"I guess you'll never know," he said lightly, teasing her. Little did she know that Luke actually had planned dancing and a fancy dinner that would have probably cost more than his first car.  
  
Lorelai busied herself with the tulle and ribbon. She had made the ribbon cascade down the corners of the chuppah and she formed bows with the white tulle to hang on the sides of the chairs. She surveyed the scene before the sun completely disappeared and she had to admit the wedding would be beautiful. The sky was brilliant shades of red, purple and gold. The wildflowers, which had just begun to bloom, gave a fragrant scent that blew through the air.  
  
Lorelai watched Luke as he worked tirelessly to get the lights to work. He was so deep in concentration that he didn't notice her staring at him. She took in his hands and his slightly furrowed brow. She smiled at his backward baseball cap, which she now mirrored. She told Luke that she wore his hat hoping it would give her inspiration to fix the lights. In truth, she had found his hat in the back of her Jeep and put it on because she missed him. It had been weeks since they'd spend an entire evening alone together and she felt the hat brought him closer to her.  
  
They worked in relative silence for the next few moments. Daylight was fading fast and the porch lights from the Dragonfly didn't provide enough light to continue working much longer. Luke knew that Lorelai would be on edge all night of the lights didn't get fix and so he continued to work until they heard music coming from the inn.  
  
"What's that?" Luke asked.  
  
"Oh, it's the rehearsal dinner," Lorelai replied, still working. "Sookie and Michel are handling that while I handle this. The bride and groom still haven't picked a wedding song and they were gonna try out a few tonight."  
  
"Hopefully not this one," Luke said examining the lights as the sun slowly set. If he was going to fix the twinkle lights he had to do it quickly.  
  
"Not a fan of Michael Bolton? I learn something new about you everyday," Lorelai grinned. "Maybe they'll try Margaritaville next," Lorelai offered trying not to laugh at Luke's affinity for Jimmy Buffet.  
  
"I can only hope," Luke replied distracted. He thought he'd found the problem with the lights and he worked furiously to correct the short. He knew the sun would be down soon. He could see the crimson-purple color of the sky, and though it was beautiful, he had more pressing matters to attend.  
  
"Luke," Lorelai said.  
  
"Hmm," he grunted in response.  
  
"I know this isn't what you had in mind for tonight," Lorelai began. "But I really appreciate you always being here to help me out. I know I've been crazy with everything going on at the inn. And even though this isn't a fun night out I'm glad you're here." After a second she added quietly, "Because I've missed you."  
  
At that exact moment every twinkle light wrapped around the chuppah illuminated the backyard. Luke leaned back satisfied that he had fixed the short.  
  
Lorelai clapped her hands together quickly. "You did it!" she exclaimed rushing over to him.  
  
She ran over to Luke and threw her arms, as well as her entire body toward Luke. "Thank you," she grinned delighted. She leaned in and gave Luke a passionate kiss in return for his hard work.  
  
"You're welcome," he smiled as their embrace ended. He looked at Lorelai standing under the chuppah with a million twinkling lights. The sun had just set, but her smile was so bright it was as if a thousands sun illuminated the night. She twirled in a circle and surveyed the scene, her blue eyes shining brightly. It was perfect for a wedding.  
  
Luke watched her gleeful face and he was happy. He patted the pocket of his jeans and felt for a small object he'd place there when he'd changed earlier. He didn't know why he decided to take it with him, but he was suddenly very happy that he had it.  
  
He swallowed hard and summoned his courage to speak. "Lorelai," he said hoarsely.  
  
She turned at the sound of her name and smiled at him, which put Luke very much at ease. He cleared his throat and continued, "I'm glad that you canceled our plans tonight because at least I got to see you. I've missed you."  
  
Lorelai walked back under the chuppah and slowly approached Luke. "Luke," she said touched.  
  
"Wait," Luke stopped her from speaking by placing his finger over her lips. He had to tell her now before he lost his nerve and if she spoke he wasn't sure he'd remember what he wanted to say.  
  
"I miss you when you're not around. Lately I've missed you a lot. I miss movie night and I miss your laugh. I miss watching you sleep and I miss waking up with you in the morning. And, aside from your questionable eating habits, I miss everything about you when you're not around," Luke ranted in a tone that reflected nothing but honestly and affection.  
  
Lorelai's eyes started to well up. She wasn't sure what had brought on this sudden declaration of emotion, but she was deeply touched. She was also aware that the Michael Bolton had stopped playing, which she was silently grateful for, as was Luke. He vaguely recognized the next song he heard. He thought it was an old '80s song. Either way he heard the lyrics and thought how they captured exactly how he felt about Lorelai. What did I do? What did I say? To make me turn your angel eyes this way?  
  
"I probably don't say it enough, but I love you," Luke continued. "I love how smart you are. I love how kind and funny you are. I love the mother you are to Rory. I love that you sneak sugar into my peppermint tea and you think I won't notice. Most of all I love how cute you look right now in my damn hat."  
  
Luke dug his hand into his pocket and extracted the small object he had placed there earlier as he genuflected on one knee in front of Lorelai. The realization of what was happening had just begun to dawn on Lorelai and the tears she had tried to blink back started to cascade.  
  
"I know this isn't a fancy restaurant with violins. And I know that I don't have a thousand yellow daisies, but what I do have is this constant ache in my heart when I'm not around you. I love you Lorelai. Will you give me the privilege to be your husband?" Luke asked quietly as he held out the ring.  
  
Lorelai gasped in for a breath of air as the tears freely flowed down her cheeks. She reached forward and grabbed Luke's arm and pulled him up.  
  
"Luke," she said her voice raspy from crying. She attempted to wipe the tears from her face. "I love you and I don't need thousand yellow daisies, I just need you. And I," Lorelai started to choke on the tears she was straining to keep at bay. "And I would be honored to be your wife."  
  
Luke smiled brighter than Lorelai ever thought possible as he slipped the ring on her finger and pulled her close to him. She took Luke's face in her hands and pulled his lips to hers. Although they'd been together for a year each kiss was always electric and new.  
  
Lorelai finally pulled back and said, "I love you Luke."  
  
"I love you too," he grinned as Lorelai turned her back to him and leaned against him. She finally lifted her hand to look at the ring. The diamond was a traditional princess cut, but the setting was entirely unique. Lorelai thought it looked classic.  
  
"Luke this ring is beautiful," Lorelai told him.  
  
"The setting was my mother's," Luke told her. "I replaced the stone though. Do you really like it? I had trouble finding something that looked like you."  
  
"It's perfect," Lorelai replied, still blinking back tears.  
  
They stood there for a moment just taking everything in. The lights around the chuppah glowed in the evening air and the fragrance of wildflowers filled the air.  
  
"This is our chuppah you know?" Lorelai finally broke the silence.  
  
"Well it's yours," Luke replied, still holding her close.  
  
"No, it's ours," Lorelai said. "I know you built it for my wedding to Max, but really, every time I looked at it I thought of you and how you took all that time to carve out the little goats," Lorelai said.  
  
"So then my master plan worked," Luke said slyly.  
  
"Well it was a good plan," Lorelai replied. "I couldn't ever pass it without thinking about you."  
  
"And then you moved it in the backyard," Luke said absently.  
  
"Yeah," she replied.  
  
"How come?" he asked. Luke had always wondered why she loved the chuppah. It had sat for a good year in her front yard and then one day it disappeared. She said she had Jackson help her move it and he'd always figured it was because she didn't want to think about Max anymore.  
  
"You got married," Lorelai said simply.  
  
"Huh?" Luke said turned to stand in front of her. He had a puzzled look on his face.  
  
"Well you got married and then I didn't want to look at it anymore," Lorelai said slightly defensively.  
  
"Why?" Luke asked completely clueless.  
  
"I don't know," Lorelai evaded.  
  
"Hey," Luke said resting a hand on her arm. "You can tell me."  
  
"It's stupid," Lorelai said slightly embarrassed.  
  
"Well we're getting married. If you can't be stupid with me, who can you be stupid with?" he asked.  
  
"Fine, but no mocking me okay?" she said.  
  
Luke nodded in response to her request.  
  
"Okay, well you gave me the chuppah and every time I saw it I thought of you. And then somewhere in the back of my head I kind of always thought of it as ours, even though there was no us. But then you married Nicole and I just didn't like looking at it anymore," Lorelai explained.  
  
"So when you looked at it you thought of us, together?" Luke asked with a small smile on his face.  
  
"No," Lorelai lied. "Yes," she admitted after Luke gave her a look. "And don't look so smug," she added after it was clear that Luke was satisfied with her response.  
  
"You know what?" Luke asked.  
  
"What?" Lorelai asked, fearing he was about to merciless mock her.  
  
"I love you," Luke replied simply.  
  
Lorelai let her guard down and gushed, "We're getting married."  
  
"That we are," Luke replied and pulled her close to him.  
  
"Oh my God, I have to call Rory!" Lorelai exclaimed rushing away to find her cell phone.  
  
Luke closed his hand around her arm. "She already knows," Luke said stopping Lorelai from rushing away.  
  
"What?" Lorelai asked. "How does she know?"  
  
"Well, ya know that stupid tradition of the guy asking the girl's dad if it's okay to marry his daughter?" Luke started sheepishly.  
  
"You asked Rory instead?" Lorelai replied touched.  
  
"Yeah," Luke affirmed. "I thought she was a more important part of our lives than Richard. I hope that's okay."  
  
"That is more than okay," Lorelai said rushing into his arms and hugging him close. "That is the sweetest thing you could have done. Thank you."  
  
"You're welcome," Luke said holding her close.  
  
After their embrace ended they stood together, Luke's arm wrapped around her stomach, Lorelai not protesting like she had once in the Dragonfly kitchen long ago. They stood there clad in Luke's damn hats and watched the night go by beneath the five billion twinkle lights under the chuppah that Luke had always hoped he'd get to stand under with Lorelai. And everything was perfect as they imagined their new life together as one. 


End file.
